Chapter 386: Reunion

Just as Sarah left the Potion Classroom, on the second floor of the Kelin Tower, in the newly opened 178th Void Experimental Zone, an experiment regarding void exploration was being prepared in full swing.

The migration of the void was finally completed.

Moke stood nervously and cautiously in a corner of the hall, feeling that he was out of place with the surrounding atmosphere, but still stood there with a stiff face.

Bearing the order of Professor Alistair, he had come this time to observe Kelin's experimental process, to learn and record every detail of this Prince's interference with the void.

Yet deep in Moke's heart, he felt a faint sense of shame and apology for the generosity of Kelin, who was actually willing to let a "failure" like him come to observe.

Perhaps Prince Kelin actually knew that his motives were not pure, but he still generously and kindly accepted him.

Is this the breadth of mind of an Imperial Prince...

Moke muttered to himself in his heart.

In stark contrast to Moke's nervousness, the group of Luo Yan's teaching assistants led by Miller were currently immersed in the excitement of exploring the unknown world.

More than a dozen teaching assistants in Mage robes were moving methodically between the huge magic arrays, each performing their duties to complete their tasks.

The entire hall on the second floor of the Kelin Tower had practically become an efficient and precise "command center."

Unlike the researchers under Moke, these equally young teaching assistants had no trace of nervousness or fear of facing a formidable enemy on their faces, but were instead overflowing with a positive, upward emotion.

It was as if they were not about to sail into an unfamiliar body of water, but a new world full of gold, with endless treasures waiting for them to pick.

What was incredible was that they clearly hadn't been there, yet they seemed to have already seen the outcome of this "expedition."

"Mr. Miller," a teaching assistant responsible for energy supply reported loudly, "The magic output of the seventh node has been calibrated, the volatility is below three-thousandths, meeting the startup standards!"

"Very good!" Miller, standing at the main casting position, responded loudly, while quickly recording parameters on the notepad in his hand, and without raising his head, ordered another group, "Rune circuit inspection team, check one last time, ensure there is no risk of energy overflow!"

"Circuit inspection complete! Everything is normal!"

The voices of those exchanges were brief and professional, and full of the enthusiasm for exploration.

Moke watched from the side, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

He could feel that these people truly believed in their mentor, believed that Prince Kelin could lead them to success.

Not only did they not have a trace of fear of the unknown, but they were full of anticipation for the upcoming exploration... just like devout believers looking forward to witnessing the next "miracle."

This positive atmosphere made Moke feel a trace of jealousy from the bottom of his heart.

It was just that he couldn't say whether he was jealous that Prince Kelin had these energetic assistants, or regretful that he didn't belong here.

"Mentor Moke, what is the situation with the 178th Void now?" Luo Yan, whose eyes had been on the magic array, suddenly shifted his gaze to Mentor Moke, who was standing to the side.

Hearing this sudden inquiry, Moke was slightly stunned, then a bitter smile appeared on his face, and he sighed as he opened his mouth.

"It's terrible, Prince. The entire void channel is like an ethereal wandering soul, likely to be lost in the boundless void at any time. All we can do is maintain observation, and... pray that this moment of parting comes a little later."

Moke had originally thought that the Prince's face would show a solemn expression, and he had even prepared to be mocked or ridiculed by the latter.

However, to his surprise, after hearing this, the Prince not only didn't blame him, but instead said with a smile.

"Isn't that quite good, we can still receive information from behind the void, which shows that the situation isn't the worst yet."

Moke was stunned, looking at this young Prince in confusion, completely failing to understand the meaning of this sentence: "... Is there any situation worse than this?"

"Of course."

Luo Yan said without hesitation.

"And it was right when you bestowed the authority of God upon that Gray Man named Kyle."

Moke's breathing stalled slightly, and it took a long time before he squeezed a difficult sentence out of his mouth.

"I don't understand, where exactly did things go wrong—"

"Of course things went wrong from the very beginning."

Seeing the thirst for truth behind those eyes, Luo Yan didn't leave him any face, saying straight to the point.

"You placed a mouse on the King's throne; the fate of this chess piece was doomed from the start."

This sharp criticism made Moke's face turn pale and then red; he opened his mouth, but found that he couldn't find any words to refute it.

Kyle was indeed a mouse, and one he had personally picked up from the garbage heap... but the problem was, he didn't have a choice, did he?

That was the only Gray Man who could hear their voices at the time.

Of course, he didn't deny that perhaps the Prince was right...

Moke took a deep breath, forcibly suppressed the unwillingness in his heart, squeezed a stiff smile on his face, and stiffly changed the subject.

"Then... what should we do now?"

Luo Yan smiled and said: "It's very simple. Since the void channel hasn't completely collapsed, it means that on the other party's timeline, they still harbor a trace of 'longing' for us."

"Longing?"

Moke frowned in confusion and said in a low voice.

"This is impossible! Their faith in us is already very weak, they have nailed us to the pillar of shame in history, calling us natural disasters in the void, evil spirits from outside the domain, and even cleansing those who have awakened transcendent power."

He paused and continued in a difficult tone.

"Just as you see right now... the void channel is already very weak, which is the most direct proof."

Such a situation was exactly what he had caused single-handedly.

It was precisely because of this that when he said these words, Moke only felt his old face burning, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

However, Luo Yan didn't care, and even looked at him with a touch of approval. Although this guy wasn't smart, he had a clear sense of his own limitations.

At least he could see his own problems.

"The problem lies right here; the Gray Men behind the 178th Void do not correctly recognize us, nor do they correctly examine themselves. On the contrary, they are trying to distort, and even erase, their past."

"Moke, I ask you, do you think we just popped out of thin air? Don't forget the prerequisite for the existence of the void channel; only the resonance of souls can allow people from two different universes to have a soul intersection."

Moke looked at the Prince in front of him, unable to answer for a moment.

Indeed—

The resonance of souls is the prerequisite for the existence of the void.

Although the collapse of the channel seems inevitable, at least on the current timelines of both sides, they still harbor a trace of "reluctance" for each other.

"It is true that Kyle is the mouse you personally selected, and it is true that you personally placed him on the throne, but he didn't just pop out of thin air, including his followers, and the wasteland that distorted their souls... they are all part of the Gray Men, no matter how their compatriots resist."

Luo Yan's smile became meaningful, which also made Moke hold his breath involuntarily.

"Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, and fear and courage are as well. When we walk to the extreme on one path, we will inevitably come to the other side of the coin... and now, what we need to do is to flip their coin one more time."

The thing the Gray Men should least have done was to kill Kyle at the moment of victory.

Although they gained a moment of pleasure, they also lost the opportunity to settle the mistakes, burying the danger in the black curtain of history.

A living Kyle was just a sinner or a clown covered in mud, but a dead Kyle would become an immortal "Prophet."

They had better never make a mistake.

Otherwise, just one small mistake could make those dissatisfied Gray Men miss that murderous God's Envoy again.

No matter how evil things he once did.

"... In the short time Kyle was alive, those pragmatic materialists were ghosts lingering over the head of the ancient god 'Moke.' And now, they have become gods on earth, while the memories they tried to bury have become ghosts lingering over their heads."

"This is also why the link between the two worlds has not been completely broken."

"Because they are still trapped in the reincarnation of the past, never truly walking out."

This sentence was like a heavy hammer, striking Moke's heart, making him, who was wandering in the fog and unable to find an exit, suddenly wake up.

"Flip the coin one more time..."

Moke chewed on this sentence repeatedly, and for the first time, light like clearing the clouds appeared in his turbid pupils.

He looked at Kelin, his eyes full of shock and awe, as if he had gained another inch of insight into the Prince's theory.

Just then, Miller, who had finally completed the spell preparation, left his position and walked to Prince Kelin's side to report respectfully.

"Prince, everything is ready, we can start at any time!"

His eyes were full of worship, and the eagerness to try a great attempt that was about to begin.

Luo Yan withdrew his gaze from Moke's face and nodded at Miller.

"Start!"

"Yes!"

Miller nodded excitedly.

Following the Prince's order, the entire research team was like gears wound up, acting immediately!

They injected surging magic into the array, driving the source power to accelerate time behind the void, dragging the heavy and stagnant era progress bar backward.

Time flew, the sun and moon rotated, and no one knew how many years had passed.

Perhaps ten years, perhaps a century, the hazy pictures were like a revolving lantern, flipping backward rapidly.

The narrowing of the channel seemed to dilute the feeling of the passage of time for the people of the two worlds.

Moke's heartbeat accelerated, while he prayed silently in his heart, praying that the fragile channel would not suddenly break at this time.

He wanted to see the "other possibility of history" in Kelin's words, and this was also his last and only opportunity to understand the Gray Man world.

Watching the channel, thin as silk, becoming weaker and weaker, about to be cut by the scissors of time, a strange change suddenly occurred!

In that hazy light and shadow, a hazy figure suddenly appeared, and the picture gradually became clear.

It was a dark and closed room, perhaps in a basement, perhaps in a garbage heap, the environment was no better than Kyle's home.

A hunched Gray Man stood beside a dirty bed, and beneath his thin ankles was a circle drawn with blood-colored paint.

He didn't know where he got a pile of "ancient books," found the ancient god "Moke" hidden in the fragments of history, and His murmurs.

In the materialist-dominated Gray Man Federation, getting to the bottom of history was the taboo of taboos, especially exploring the mysteries of the ancient god Moke and the "Ark of Redemption" sect.

But he, who had been forced into a dead end, no longer cared.

His company terminated his employment contract the moment he contracted "Rust Disease," leaving him with no money to treat his illness, and no money to replace his faulty prosthetic body. And just when he was worried about medical expenses and his next job, the bank's loan collection bill was sent to his home.

A hemp rope always breaks at the thinnest point, and misfortune always finds the pitiful.

The Federation's parliament seemed to be as strict as a father to him forever, but when it came to bank and company issues, it began to turn a blind eye.

And it was when he was destitute that he heard about the ancient god "Moke" from people who shared his fate.

In the Federation's textbooks, it only said that the guy wasn't a good person, and his followers were even worse, but it was tight-lipped about how these rotten guys appeared, and even more silent about what the Federation's predecessor—the Wasteland Alliance—did during the tribal period before becoming an alliance.

Kyle treated survivors as slaves, didn't those tribes treat survivors as slaves?

No one told him the difference between the two; perhaps there was no difference to begin with, just as he was now a slave to debt, not necessarily ridden by a group of slave owners called shareholders and creditors.

He could only interpret it with the worst assumption—the so-called "evil" was just an excuse found by the despicable wastelanders to kill the savior.

Everything was a scam!

Thinking about it, the reason the Federation Parliament confiscated their transcendent power was also because they were afraid that those who awakened transcendent power would recall the memories of the past!

He bet his only hope on that one-in-a-billion possibility, drawing the magic array he repeatedly saw in his dreams on the cold concrete floor.

Although he didn't have transcendent power, it was said that Kyle didn't have it at first either; to the ancient god in the void, piety was more meaningful than talent.

As long as they could establish a connection, He would naturally pour all the mysteries that could not be explained by physics into himself!

Fortunately, he actually did it!

For two hundred years, countless people had called the name of the ancient god, and he was the only one who made that magic array emit purple mist.

He was taken aback, kneeling on the ground in ecstasy, using all his strength to continue calling the name of "Moke" to the void.

Not just calling the name, he also offered devout prayers and repentance, and tearfully denounced the monstrous crimes of the Gray Man Federation.

Including the lack of social security, including the persecution of transcendent beings, and so on.

However, because the Ao Si continent didn't have these things, the voice transmitted through spiritual resonance could not always be understood by Moke and others on the other side of the void.

Yet even so, that burning emotion was indeed conveyed.

Everyone standing in the hall of the Mage Tower felt the negative emotions on that Gray Man as if they were there!

The hazy lens became clearer and clearer.

Moke, standing at the edge of the magic array, was dumbfounded.

He never expected that Kelin would do nothing, just drag the progress bar he didn't dare to drag backward to the back, and the crumbling void channel would stabilize itself.

That is to say...

He and Professor Alistair just needed to hold on a little longer, and the 178th Void would have improved on its own, at most the specialty "Wraith Charcoal" would be gone!

Realizing what a stupid thing he had done, Moke felt his intestines were about to turn green with regret at this moment.

This 178th Void was given away for nothing!

And—

Professor Alistair would definitely throw the pot on him!

However, Luo Yan didn't think this guy had anything to regret, after all, without his guidance, he would have the same result if he did it again.

And next time, he might not be so lucky.

Time behind the void was still flowing, the voice of the Gray Man crawling in the magic array was full of unwillingness, and the accusations and blame were becoming more and more radical.

"... Equality has not been realized, and it is getting further and further away!"

"If sacrificing us could exchange for their promise, and let that world without oppression descend, that would be fine! But what was the result? Our sacrifice did not forge great prosperity, but drove us all from one old cage into another, greedier cage! They not only want to sacrifice our flesh and blood, but also sacrifice our spirit!"

He lifted his dull metal prosthetic limb upward, and through the deep purple mist, vaguely saw a pair of black-purple eyes.

The ancient god was gazing at him!

He was listening!

A hint of fanaticism appeared on his face, pouring all the enthusiasm of this broken body into that desperate shout.

"I implore you to open your eyes and fight another round with your loyal subjects! We are not afraid of sacrifice, anyway, the mortal body will eventually die, anyway, we have nothing to lose!"

"We just want to let our useless flesh and blood burn for your will once more before our souls return to your divine kingdom!"

"We want revenge! Toward those Gray Men who fooled us! I want them to taste the fear of living in the abyss too!"

Moke looked at him blankly, only feeling that the will erupting from this Gray Man was no less than that of the Gray Man hero who resisted Kyle's tyranny back then.

Even, in his perseverance and persistence, there was a hint of fanaticism and piety that the hero of the past didn't have.

He was like a combination of Kyle and that person!

Listening to this bloody prayer, Miller's face showed anticipation and excitement, and he turned to look at Kelin, waiting for his instructions.

Moke was the same, half of his complex expression was anticipation, and half was curiosity.

In fact, setting aside that enthusiasm and piety, this guy was just a little mouse living at the bottom like Kyle.

He was curious about what Kelin would do.

What else could he do besides putting this little mouse on the throne?

Could he watch this guy die?

Luo Yan quietly looked at the desperate soul burning with the flames of revenge in the lens, tasting his anger and madness.

A moment later, he gave his first instruction for the 178th Void to Miller and the group of teaching assistants who were looking forward to it with a voice without any emotion.

"Tell him, the ancient god is dead."

"Call me Kelin."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 387 =====